December 28, 2010

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Heather Pick!

290 years ago
1720

Society
The British Lords of Trade proposed to deport the Acadians from Nova Scotia, although the expulsion did not commence until 35 years later (1755 - 1763).

175 years ago
1835

War
Osceola led his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army.

140 years ago
1870

Born on this date
Charles Bennett. U.K. runner. Mr. Bennett, the "Shapwick Express," was the first British track athlete to win an Olympic gold medal, winning in the men's 1500-metre run and the 5000-metre team race at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, while taking a silver medal in the 4000-metre steeplechase. He die don March 9, 1949 at the age of 78.

120 years ago
1890

War
A band of Sioux Indians led by Big Foot, who had fled to the badlands, were captured by the U.S. 7th Cavalry and brought to Wounded Knee creek in South Dakota.

100 years ago
1910

Born on this date
Billy Williams. U.S. singer. Mr. Williams was lead singer of the gospel group the Charioteers (1930-1950), with time out for service in the U.S. Army during World War II. He then formed the Billy Williams Quartet, achieving a dozen charted singles from 1951-1959. His most successful recording was I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter (1957), which reached #3 on the Billboard singles chart and sold over a million copies. Mr. Williams suffered from diabetes in later years, and died of a heart attack on October 12, 1972 at the age of 61.

75 years ago
1935

Died on this date
Clarence Day, 61. U.S. author. Mr. Day was best known for his memoir Life with Father (1935), which was published shortly before his death from pneumonia.

70 years ago
1940

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Frenesi--Artie Shaw and his Orchestra (2nd week at #1)

Died on this date
Christian Deetjan, 77. U.S. physician. Dr. Deetjan, a pioneer in X-ray treatment who had lost fingers and a forearm in 1930 as a result of his work, died in Baltimore from burns received during research.

War
It was reported that Germany had massed more than a division of troops in Romania within 13 miles of the Yugoslavian border. The Japanese government denied that one of its ships had shelled Nauru; Australian sources speculated that the ship concerned was a disguised German raider. A vote of confidence in the cabinet of Prime Minister Hussein Sirri Pasha by the Egyptian parliament barred the way to Egypt's active participation in the European war.

Defense
According to a preliminary audit by the United States Treasury, the United Kingdom would have no cash left to pay for U.S. arms and munitions by the early autumn of 1941. A Gallup Poll reported that 60% of American voters now favoured aiding Britain even at the risk of war, as compared with 36% in May 1940.

Edward Stettinius of the U.S. National Defense Advisory Commission reported that there were no serious shortages in aluminum supplies.

Universal military training was established in Ecuador, beginning in January 1941 with pre-military instruction in all schools, colleges, and universities.

World events
The Guatemalan government of President Jorge Ubico announced that 12 people who had tried to start a rebellion on December 24 at Fort Metamoros had been executed this day by firing squads.

Law
The American Student Union in New York accused the U.S. administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt with attempting to sabotage progressive legislation and civil liberties under the guise of national defense.

Science
University of California professors Joseph Kaplan and Dr. S.M. Ruben described a new device called a "cosmic Jacob's ladder" which provided them with evidence that the upper atmosphere contains helium.

Labour
A U.S. House of Representatives committee which had spent 17 months investigating the National Labor Relations Board urged its complete reorganization to eliminate those employees who had shown bias and a partisan attitude as well as those who had indicated opposition to "the American system of government."

Football
NCAA
Blue-Gray Game @ Montgomery, Alabama
North 14 South 12

60 years ago
1950

Married on this date
U.S. actor Henry Fonda married Susan Blanchard, stepdaughter of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II.

War
The U.S.A. told the U.S.S.R. in a note that it would not wai much longer for Soviet cooperation on a Japanese peace treaty and would not accept terms barring American troops from Japan.

Defense
U.S. President Harry Truman rejected former President Herbert Hoover's proposal to limit U.S. defenses to the Western Hemisphere as an attempt to revive isolationism.

Politics and government
U.S. Representative Adolph Sabath (Democrat--Illinois) completed a record 43 years, 9 months, and 25 days of continuous congressional service.

Journalism
Time magazine's choice for Man of the Year was "The U.S. Fighting Man," the first time the magazine had cited a symbol instead of an individual.

Medicine
The U.S. Army reported the successful use in Korea of iso-levomethadone, a synthetic drug which relieved pain as effectively as morphine and could easily be mass-produced.

Economics and finance
The People's Republic of China retaliated against the U.S. economic embargo by seizing all American assets in China, estimated by a U.S. Commerce Department official as less than $100 million.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board ordered an increase in bank reserve requirements as an anti-inflation measure designed to withdraw $2 billion from circulation.

The U.S. government took complete control of natural rubber under a National Production Authority order making the General Services Administration the nation's sole importer and distributor of the product.

50 years ago
1960

At the movies
Where the Boys Are, directed by Henry Levin, and starring Dolores Hart, George Hamilton, Yvette Mimieux, Jim Hutton, Barbara Nichols, Paula Prentiss, and Connie Francis, opened in theatres.



40 years ago
1970

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): A Song of Joy--Miguel Rios (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Kyōto no Koi--Yūko Nagisa (8th week at #1)

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Te Quiero, Te Quiero--Nino Bravo (2nd week at #1)

World events
The military tribunal in Spain trying 16 Basque nationalists handed down harsh verdicts, including death sentences for six of the accused. Three of the six were sentenced to death by firing squad twice (wouldn’t once be enough?). Sentences for the others ranged from 12 to 70 years, but one of the female defendants was acquitted. The verdicts and sentences provoked protests and pleas for mercy from around the world, and Basque guerrillas threatened retaliation if the death sentences were carried out.

Terrorism
Three suspects in the October 17 murder of Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte--Paul Rose, 27; his brother Jacques, 23; and Francis Simard, 23--were captured in a Quebec farmhouse, having earlier eluded police in Montreal. The three were associated with the Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ).

War
U.S. Defense Secretary Melvin Laird, in a year-end review, revealed that U.S. combat deaths in Vietnam had dropped to a five-year low. Almost-complete figures for 1970 showed 4,180 combat deaths, more than 10,000 fewer than in 1968, and less than half the number killed in 1969. U.S. wounded for 1970 numbered 30,425--slightly more than in 1966, but much below the numbers from 1967-1969. Mr. Laird said that U.S. air attacks had declined 36% from 1969 and 48% from 1968.

Diplomacy
After almost four months of debate in the cabinet, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir announced that Israel would return to the Middle East peace talks under the auspices of United Nations mediator Gunnar Jarring.

30 years ago
1980

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Shaddap You Face--Joe Dolce Music Theatre (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Angel of Mine--Frank Duval & Orchestra (3rd week at #1)

War
The day after leftist guerrillas had begun an offensive against government troops in northern El Salvador, the commander of the Salvadoran army reported that he had the situation in hand.

Diplomacy
The government of Mexico announced its plans to cancel two fishing treaties between itself and the United States. The first was a 1976 agreement that gave the U.S. a quota for snapper and grouper caught in Mexican Gulf and Pacific waters, which would be terminated in one year. The second was a 1977 treaty that permitted Mexico a squid allocation of the eastern seaboard of the United States, which would be cancelled within six months of the delivery of the notice. This notice--which was delivered to the U.S. State Department on December 29--was seen as a blow to efforts to produce a treaty between the countries on the more important tuna fishing industry. Mexico and the U.S. had been engaged in a "tuna war" since a July embargo on tuna imports from Mexico was imposed by the U.S.A.

The U.S.S.R. delivered a formal protest to Iran asking for the Iranian government to make repairs to and to beef up security around the Soviet embassy in Tehran. The day before, Afghans living in Iran had broken into the embassy’s compound to protest on the first anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The formal protest message from the U.S.S.R. did not note that the protesters were Afghans.

Politics and government
John Agyekum Kufuor won a runoff election to become the new President of Ghana, ending Jerry Rawlings’ 19 years in power. Mr. Rawlings, who had twice seized power and led a harsh military regime before turning to democracy, was constitutionally barred from running again. Mr. Kufuor, the candidate of the New Patriotic Party, received 56.9% of the vote to 43.1% for National Democratic Congress candidate John Atta Mills.

Medicine
An announcement issued by a group of researchers at the University of Utah reported that they had kept a calf alive for 32 weeks with a man-made heart, and requested permission to implant a similar device in a human being. A university panel was set up to review the possibility of the human implant. The artificial heart, it was thought, could be used to keep a heart patient alive long enough for surgeons to locate another human heart to be used in a transplant operation.

Television
Britain’s Independent Broadcasting Authority announced that the contract for "breakfast television" had been awarded to the new company TV-am.

Football
NFL
NFC Wild Card Playoff
Los Angeles 13 @ Dallas 34

See video.

AFC Wild Card Playoff
Houston 7 @ Oakland 27

See video.

25 years ago
1985

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Election Day--Arcadia (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Nikita--Elton John (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Nikita--Elton John (4th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Thank You Very Much Mr Eastwood--Dermot Morgan

#1 single in the U.K.: Merry Christmas Everyone--Shakin' Stevens

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Say You, Say Me--Lionel Richie (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Say You, Say Me--Lionel Richie (2nd week at #1)
2 Party All the Time--Eddie Murphy
3 Alive and Kicking--Simple Minds
4 Broken Wings--Mr. Mister
5 That’s What Friends are For--Dionne and Friends (with Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)
6 Small Town--John Cougar Mellencamp
7 Election Day--Arcadia
8 Separate Lives--Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin
9 Talk to Me--Stevie Nicks
10 Perfect Way--Scritti Politti

Singles entering the chart were Sara by Starship (#59); Own the Night by Chaka Khan (#78); Secret Lovers by Atlantic Starr (#85); Don't Say No Tonight by Eugene Wild (#89); and Baby Talk by Alisha (#90).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Say You, Say Me--Lionel Richie (2nd week at #1)
2 Everything in My Heart--Corey Hart
3 Broken Wings--Mr. Mister
4 Separate Lives--Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin
5 We Built This City--Starship
6 Tarzan Boy--Baltimora
7 That’s What Friends are For--Dionne and Friends (with Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)
8 Live is Life--Opus
9 Election Day--Arcadia
10 Sun City--Artists United Against Apartheid

Singles entering the chart were Kyrie by Mr. Mister (#75); Conga by Miami Sound Machine (#87); If I Was by Midge Ure (#89); Somebody Somewhere by Platinum Blonde (#91); He'll Never Love You (Like I Do) by Freddie Jackson (#92); and Didn't You Kill My Brother? by Alexei Sayle (#95).

Defense
The United States tested an X-ray laser, a component of the Strategic Defense Initiative anti-missile defense system, by detonating a hydrogen bomb under the Nevada desert. An X-ray laser would convert the energy released by a nuclear explosion into a burst of X-rays.

Transportation
The SkyTrain light rail transit system began operating in the metro Vancouver, British Columbia area.

Football
NFL
AFC Wild Card Playoff
New England 26 @ New York Jets 14



20 years ago
1990

Died on this date
Kiel Martin, 46. U.S. actor. Mr. Martin, born Kiel Mueller, was best known for playing Detective J.D. LaRue in the television series Hill Street Blues (1981-1987). This blogger remembers him from The Edge of Night in the late 1970s. Mr. Martin died of lung cancer.

Economics and finance
The United States Commerce Department said that the index of leading economic indicators had declined 1.2% in November. The index had now dropped for five consecutive months, with a decline of three straight months generally regarded as indicating a recession.

10 years ago
2000

Terrorism
Passengers aboard a British Airways jumbo jet screamed in terror when a man burst into the cockpit and sent the plane into a steep dive during a night flight from London to Nairobi. Several passengers subdued and bound the 27-year-old Kenyan intruder as he attacked the pilot. The co-pilot regained control of the plane after a 3,000-foot descent.

Politics and government
U.S. President-elect George W. Bush named Donald Rumsfeld as his choice for Secretary of Defense. Mr. Rumsfeld had held the position in the administration of President Gerald Ford from 1975-1977.

Americana
The United States Census Bureau put the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000 at 281,421,906, a 13.2% increase from 1990. On the basis of unadjusted state figures, as required by law, there would be eight states gaining seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and 10 states losing seats. California, already the most populous state, had added 4,111,627 residents, more than any other state. Nevada had the highest rate of gain, 66.3%. North Dakota had the smallest total increase--3,400--and the lowest rate of increase--0.5%. The District of Columbia’s population declined 5.7%.

Business
U.S. retail chain Montgomery Ward & Co., a century-old company, announced that it would cease to operate, closing 250 stores and ending employment for 28,000 workers.